The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Fashion Opinion

Tonight I’m watching the first round of Olympic women’s figure skating. As these teenage girls, weighed down by pancake makeup and pressure well beyond their years, parade in front of millions in precarious footwear, I can only think how different it is from that other world cultural event going on right now: fashion week. →

The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Fashion Opinion

What started as a movement to rethink the way Americans mass-produce and mass-consume food seems to be inspiring an even closer-to-home slow movement. For years we’ve all been buzzing over the vast internet’s triumph over quaint print media. Meanwhile, multitasking was made easier with the help of 43 folders, women’s magazines, as shrill as ever, insist we can do it all (so long as we organize it correctly) and Apple trumpets in on a daily basis yeah, there’s an app for that.

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The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Culture Opinion

As every tech company seems to be releasing tablet e-readers, nearly every publishing giant cuts down on both their staffs and titles, and even seasoned media vets move online, I suppose it should be pretty apparent that the newer, democratically conceived voices undercutting established ones are, indeed, undeniably potent. →

The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Fashion Opinion

It seems that, for a genre of often overlooked or under appreciated art objects, fashion is something that everyone’s got an opinion about. Whether it’s a divisive new trend or an essential idea, like my Long Island Dad always says, everybody’s got a rap. So when a fashion designer, or just an enthusiast, starts musing and it sounds like more than the usual rambling and, in fact, sounds a little like philosophy, I perk up. →

The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Fashion Opinion

Those who know me well know that for the past couple months I’ve been plagued by a relentless obsession. I want anything and everything Navajo printed. Exactly how and when this happened, I’m not sure, but the combination of hard geometry and flashy desert colors has me daydreaming of dusty, remote ranches to come. →

Dina Manzo, like Marilyn Monroe before her, just loves finding new places to wear diamonds.

The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Fashion Opinion

Forgive me for becoming the Jerry Seinfeld of fashion writing for a moment, but honestly, what is the deal with the current Jersey obsession? Maybe it’s irony, maybe it’s recessionary escapism, or maybe we’re all just going to admit how much we love gold, but glitzed-out Italian-Americans are running rampant through pop culture.

Frankly, I’m surprised everyone was so late onto the bus. In the spirit of Black Friday, this week I’m going to expose my longstanding and irrational love of what I like to call the Manzo Factor.

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The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Fashion Opinion

I love fall. Changing leaves, heavy tweeds, hot toddies; the works. My experience of the season has been (understandably I guess) different in L.A. than it was growing up in New England. There are no major temperature drops requiring sweaters, no changing leaves to mimic with our own palette adjustments, and no brown leaves to crunch under heavy leather boots.  →

The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Fashion Opinion

This fall, footwear’s taken a turn towards the professorial. The oxfords that started showing up a couple years ago have finally marched straight into our hearts. So, whether you’re channeling Woody’s tweed and rakish neuroses or Serge’s suavité in jazzy Repettos, here’s a list of my favorite brogues to carry you from library to discotheque. →

Sometimes I’m puzzled by the different ways people think about objects and I wonder if being materialistic has to be innately shallow.

I grew up watching my mother dream up, sketch, draft and construct women’s apparel. I grew up surrounded by my stepfather’s parents’ beloved and unhinging antiques. I’ve never been disparaging of object obsession. Each trinket, jacket, shoe, desk: all seems endowed with significance, whether sentimental or ontological (or both). →

What could be more luxurious than a custom bicycle hand-upholstered in supple tan leather? How about one the comes with a built-in flask? →